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Monday, 27 February 2012

As the recession continues some
worrying divisions in our communities seem to be getting bigger. It
isn't just the gap between rich and poor, clashes of religion or
race, I have now heard several well educated and informed people talk
about the way older people are “Taking away resources” from the
young. I can only be amazed at supposedly intelligent people who want
mandatory retirement at 65 to enable unemployed youth to have jobs –
don't even think about skill levels and experience – whilst
begrudging retirement pensions to the selfish elderly who won't work.

I can't tell you how depressed and
worried this makes me. If this is the standard of thinking that
prevails then New Zealand is in dire straits indeed.

We are all part of our country and we
must remember that the true judge of any nation is how it provides
for its most vulnerable – the very young, the ill and the elderly
amongst others.

All of the current infrastructure was
paid for by by the taxes of the older generation as part of a long
term view of building this country. Each generation makes its own
contribution. If we descend into having the old compete with the
young it is not only a specious, shallow and vicious piece of
thinking, it also reflects a complete lack of any commitment to the
future of this country and the in ability to think past the next
moment.

Each group has its own real and
pressing needs. It is the job of the government – any government –
to lead the goal setting and work out the resourcing, not to set
groups against each other by implying that to fund one detracts fron
the other.

If ever we needed cohesion, it is now.

So please do not by into this baseless,
shameful view. It is only one step from talking about the “deserving
poor” and even the Victorians rejected this eventually.